The Ward that Turned
by jean d'arc
Summary: Lady Stark is at Winterfell when Theon attacks. Along with Master Luwin and Rodrick Cassel they try to come up with a plan to save Winterfell.
1. Lady Greyjoy

**_The Ward that turned. _**

**_Summary: _**

_Lady Stark is at Winterfell when Theon attacks. Along with Maester Luwin and Rodrick Cassel they try to come up with a plan to save Winterfell. _

**_1\. Lady Greyjoy_**

At least there had been no physical damage to the castle and casualties had been almost minimal. As they stood in the courtyard, Lady Stark had no choice but to hand the castle to Theon.

"How dare you?" she cried. "You lived with us, we gave you food, shelter, a home. My son trusted you, and is this how you repay him? By betraying him?"

"Food and shelter, the Lady says" shouted Theon to the people gathered in the courtyard. "I was a prisoner. Your husband took me from my home and my family and brought me here. You never gave me a home. You ignored me Lady Stark, just like you did that bastard Jon Snow. But I wasn't a bastard, I was highborn. Now, the castle is mine!"

"Theon, please, don't", Catelyn begged.

"_Theon, please, don't_" he mocked and then he turned to his men "Take the Lady Catelyn to her chambers and lock her there. Lock the two boys in their rooms, as well. Everybody else go back your chores. You'll be working for me now"

Lady Catelyn Stark lay awake in bed trying to process everything that had happened in the past few months. She had returned from the Eyrie after that fiasco with her sister and Tyrion Lannister. She had met with her son Robb briefly in his camp and then she had returned home to Winterfell. She had been so happy to be back. She had not seen her two youngest sons in months. Rickon had grown so much, and Bran was awake. He was a cripple, yes, but he was alive and awake. But then word had come from the south, Ned had been executed and Robb was in the middle of a war. A war she may have started herself when she kidnapped the Imp, she thought with a pang of guilt. She had kept frequent communications with Robb. He would tell her about the war and she would advise and counsel him. Unfortunately, she had lost all trace of her two daughters. Sansa was a hostage in King's Landing and Arya had disappeared.

She had never liked Theon, she certainly had never trusted him. But Robb had. Going against her counsel, he had sent Theon to negotiate with his father, Balon Greyjoy. Now Theon had betrayed Robb's trust and attacked Winterfell. She was a prisoner in her own home.

The knock on the door brought her back to reality.

"Lady Stark", said Theon standing at the door. "I hope you're comfortable".

"What do you want?" she replied coldly.

"So no small talk. All right, then. The castle is mine, with everything in it: the weapons, the food, the drinks, the servants, the women, your children … you".

"Leave the children out of this, Theon. Rickon is but five, and Bran is defenseless"

"It's not the children I want. I want you to marry me"

"Are you insane? Why would I marry you? It's only a few weeks ago that I became a widow. I still mourn my husband. Besides, you're a low life scum, a turncoat who would betray the people who treated you like family".

"You were never family!" he yelled. "And you have no choice. The castle is mine"

"I will never marry you, Theon Greyjoy!" she said as she stood up and started walking towards him. "Now, leave my chambers".

He took a few steps forwards in her direction. She never saw the fist coming until it made contact with her face.

"You will marry me, Lady Stark. I need the loyalty of the men in your house and I can only get it through you. Do not flatter yourself. It's not your bed that I want, it's your power and influence. I'll get Maester Luwin to fix you up. You need to look nice for the wedding. Good bye _Lady Greyjoy_" he spat as he left.

TBC


	2. A Bold Plan

**_2\. A bold plan_**

"Easy now, Lady Stark, I need to apply this on your face", said Maester Luwin as he applied ointment on her cheek.

"That weasel needs to die" she said gritting her teeth.

"I have to agree with you milady. I have never liked that boy. At least he didn't do much damage. The bruise on your face should fade in a few days"

"Has he harmed the children?"

"No. Both Rickon and Bran are fine."

"Don't tell them that Theon attacked me. He wants me to marry him. He wants to become Lord of Winterfell. I can't do that. But if I don't, I'm afraid he'll take it out on the boys."

"I'll protect the boys, and Osha is with them day and night. They will be safe, do not fret, my lady."

"Thank you very much. I couldn't bear it if Theon were to hurt them."

"I was able to send a messenger to Robb as you requested."

"That's great news. Well done, Maester Luwin."

"I saw him ran into the night undetected. Hopefully your son will get word of our situation soon and send help"

"He can't. He's leading a war and needs every man he has"

"Then, we need to make a plan ourselves".

"Can the cooks poison their food?"

"No, my lady. He always makes sure we eat the same food as his men. He has become extremely paranoid as of late"

"Being locked up here, I have no idea what goes on in the castle. Do we have access to the armory? Are any of our men armed?"

"No, my lady. Theon made sure all our men handed all their weapons and he keeps the armory heavily guarded. However, some of our people still have their tools: shovels, rakes, axes and kitchen utensils including knives. And we outnumber them."

The door to Catelyn's chambers opened and a soldier came in.

"Time's up! Go back to your chores old man. The Lady will rest." And with that he pushed Maester Luwin out of the room.

With Lady Stark being confined to her chambers, the task of devising a plan fell on Maester Luwin's shoulders. Because he was the Maester, he had full access to all the areas in the castle and all the people there. Theon had allowed him to tend to Lady Stark and the children. Plus he still kept his office and was able to communicate with the servants and some of the Stark soldiers.

They didn't have much time and did not have access to any weapons with Theon's men guarding the armory. So they came up with a very simple plan. The kitchen servants would make sure to put a bottle of spiked wine in Theon's room; Lady Stark would agree to marry Theon and go to his chambers to discuss the upcoming wedding; she would somehow make sure he had a drink so when he fell unconscious she could kill him. Rodrick Cassel was going to wait in a nearby hallway in case she needed assistance. With all the commotion caused by Theon's death, they hoped the Ironborn would be easy to overtake. The plan was not foolproof by any means. Any number of things could go wrong.

Within a couple of weeks everything was ready to set the plan in motion.

Filled with dread and determination, Lady Stark walked into Theon's room.

"So, you've finally agreed to my proposition" said Theon with a smug smile.

"Do I have a choice?" she said icily and then she asked tentatively "When will the ceremony take place?"

"Next Sunday. I have already made all the arrangements.".

"I have some conditions, though"

"You're in no position to ask for conditions, Lady Stark. But out of courtesy, I'll listen to you".

"I will keep my Stark ring. I will wear your kraken sigil, but will not remove the Stark direwolf"

"No. Next?" came the smug reply

Catelyn closed her eyes and sighed in defeat before continuing. "My children will not attend the ceremony. They lost their father not long ago. I don't want them to think I've forgotten him already."

"All right"

"Thank you."

"As I said, I don't want to harm Bran and Rickon, Lady Stark. Anything else?"

"Yes, there will be no bedding."

"Oh, yes there will be" he smirked eyeing her from head to toe. "If you want we can skip the bedding ceremony, I understand if you don't want your former servants seeing you naked. But there will be a bedding"

She closed her eyes in resignation and pointed at the wine.

"May I?" she asked. When he nodded she poured herself a glass. Though she could really use a glass of wine know, she knew was not supposed to drink it. It was all part of the plan, yet the way she felt was real enough. "Would you like a glass, Theon?"

"Sure, why not?"

She poured another glass for Theon and waited for him to drink it. But he didn't. She put her glass to her mouth but made sure the wine did not touch her lips. Paranoid as he was and not fully trusting her, he stared at her.

"Not thirsty, lady Stark?" he asked.

"May I sit down? I don't feel so well. You have to understand Theon, this is all too much. Ned was killed a short while ago. I can't just marry and bed another man. A man much younger than me. I feel very uncomfortable now. I had hoped the drink would help me, but .. I just .. I don't know" she said putting the glass down and hoping Theon would buy the act.

"I'll drink with you if you want"

"No, I think I'll pass. I'm a bit dizzy as it is".

"No, Lady Stark", he said pulling out a dagger "Drink it"

"What?"

"You heard me, drink it."

"What? Do you think it's poisoned? You control everything in this castle, Theon. There's no way I could have brought poisoned wine to your room even if I had wanted to."

"Drink it" he said putting the knife to her neck.

"All right, I'll drink it. I'll show you it's not poisoned" and she had a small sip.

"All of it. Bottoms up, Lady Stark"

Seeing no way out, she emptied the glass hoping the drugs would not take effect right away and she would still be able to get him to drink.

"I guess I misjudged you. I may have overestimated your strength, Lady Stark. You're still a subdued damsel who does everything she's told" he said with contempt and had a gulp himself.

She was already starting to feel the effects of the drug, and apparently so was he.

"What have you done? You stupid bitch!"

"We drugged you" she was able to say before she fell to the floor.

Out of the corner of her eye she saw him coming at her with the knife.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

_Two weeks before, in the Riverlands …_

Robb was sitting in his tent holding a council meeting with his men.

"My mother needs help", he said. "Theon has attacked Winterfell and taken everybody hostage. I don't have many men as it is, but I can't let Theon burn my house and run it to the ground"

"I'll go" said the Blackfish. "If you allow me, Your Grace, I shall get a contingent of my men and go to your house. I shall help my niece, free you family, and I shall kill that turncoat"

"Thank you Lord Tully"

TBC


	3. A Foiled Plan that Worked

**_3\. A foiled plan that worked._**

"I have a very bad feeling, Mester Luwin", said Rodrick Cassel. "We should go check" he added and he turned to the two Stark soldiers standing with him. They were all standing guard near Theon's chambers while Lady Catleyn was trying to get Theon to drink the spiked wine. It was a good plan on paper, but not being able to see what was going on behind the walls of the room was making the men nervous.

"No, let's wait. She said she would yell for help if she needed, give her more time" replied the Maester sounding more confident than what he actually felt. .

They hushed as they heard soldiers run by. Hiding in a dark corridor, they looked out of the window and were utterly confused by what they saw. Most of the Ironborn army were lined up in the courtyard and archers were posted on the towers, bow in hand and arrows at the ready.

"Something's wrong" said a worried Maester Luwin.

"Wrong for us or for them?" replied Ser Rodrick with a smile "Look there, to the right of the outer wall. There's an army coming. I can't make out the banners, but it's not the black Greyjoy flag. Looks blue and red to me. Come on, let's hide before Theon's men come to get him"

From their hiding spot, Cassell and Maester Luwin could see two of Theon's soldiers knocking on the bedroom door. When they received no reply they forced their way in. Confusion gripped the Ironborn when hey saw their Lord unmoving on the floor in a pool of blood next to Lady Stark, who was also still as death.

"Our Lord has been murdered!" shouted one of the soldiers "And the Lady Stark"

Taking advantage of their confusion, Ser Rodrick and his two men stormed the room and quickly overpowered Theon's soldiers. They confirmed that Theon was indeed dead, a dagger protruding from his throat. Meanwhile Maester Luwin started tending to an unconscious Lady Stark .

"Theon Greyjoy!" suddenly yelled a grave voice coming from outside the walls of Winterfell. "Give up the castle and we'll let you walk. Refuse and we will fight you. We will beat you and you will die."

As Rodrick Cassel looked out the window he celebrated:

"Gods be good! It's the Blackfish. The Lady's uncle. Lord Robb must have sent him."

Theon's soldiers remained still in the courtyard, waiting for their Lord to give a command.

From one of the inner towers Cassel's loud voice could be heard. "Men of the Iron Islands. Your Lord has been killed" and he produced Theon's body for everybody to see. "We have an army waiting outside. Surrender your weapons and you will be pardoned"

One by one, Theon's men started lowering their weapons. The outer gate was opened and Brynden Tully rode in with his army.

"Great timing, my lord" said Cassel.

"Thank you. Always a good feeling when you manage to get rid of the scum" said the Blackfish and he spat in the direction of the Ironborn standing in the yard, who were being shackled. "Where's my niece?"

"She's in Theon Greyjoy's chambers. We had a plan of our own which would have failed had it not been for your arrival"

As the Tully army and the Stark men took the Ironborn soldiers to the dungeons, Cassel took Lord Tully to see his niece, who was still being tended to by Maester Luwin.

"She is unconscious but she will be fine" said the Maester.

"What's all this blood?" asked Lord Brynden Tully, fear showing in his voice.

"Theon Greyjoy's" the Maester replied calmly.

"So, what's wrong with my niece? Why won't she wake up?"

"Must be the drugs. She must have drunk the wine. There are two glasses on the table. She must have stabbed Theon before the drugs took full effect"

Seeing the confusion on Lord Tully's face, Cassel informed him of the plan they had devised.

"Had you not arrived when you did, we would have been discovered. I dread to think what they would have done to us and the Lady."

Lady Stark started stirring and was taken aback when she opened her eyes and saw her uncle.

"Hey, Sweet Cat. Are you taking a nap while we save your castle?" her uncle teased her softly.

"Uncle! Did Robb get our message? How is he?"

"He's fine, as far as I know. We received your message two weeks ago. We were marching south to try to end the siege on the Riverlands. I offered to come here with a small army."

"Thanks"

"My lady, what happened?" asked Maester Luwin. "Did you take the wine?"

"I had no choice. He started suspecting we had poisoned the wine and made me drink it. When he saw nothing happened to me he took his. Then we both started feeling the effects of the wine. He had had just a gulp, but I had drunk a full glass. I fell to the floor and he came at me with his dagger. I'm not very sure what happened then, but I remember grabbing his hand and being able to take the dagger from his fingers. I know I stabbed him, but then I blacked out. Is he dead?"

"Yes, my lady. And the castle is yours again."

"Where are my children?"

"They are fine, they are in their room with Osha"

"Please, take me to my chambers and have my children join me there".

"Yes, my lady".

The following day Lady Catelyn Stark of Winterfell walked along the walls of her castle. They had come very close to losing it all. They had regained Winterfell from the Ironborn, but her oldest son was still fighting a war. Sansa was still in King's Landing. Arya was still lost. And her husband … well, Ned was never coming back.

THE END.

Thanks for reading.

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